Bystanders credit Barnstable treasurer with saving a life

Saturday

Barnstable Treasurer Debra Blanchette reacted quickly when a man came out of a nearby office at the Barnstable School Administration Building and said, "He's gone, he's had a heart attack."

HYANNIS — Town Treasurer Debra Blanchette was sitting at her desk yesterday when a man came out of a nearby office at the Barnstable School Administration Building and said, "He's gone, he's had a heart attack."

Everyone else froze with panic. But Blanchette leapt from her chair, ran to the man sprawled on a chair, and immediately began CPR.

After three minutes of administering life-saving breaths and chest compressions, Robert Steenstra of West Barnstable revived.

And Blanchette, 51, was pronounced a hero.

"I looked her right in the eye and said, 'You're my hero,'" retired Barnstable District Court Judge Joseph Reardon said after the rescue yesterday.

"She just looked at me and smiled. It was just quite remarkable. I watched her bring this man back to life."

Reardon and Dave Anthony were meeting with Steenstra to review the West Barnstable man's rent and tax payment as a tenant on the Lombard Trust, a West Barnstable piece of land bequeathed to the town to raise money for the poor. Anthony, chief procurement officer for the town, does record keeping for the land trust, which Reardon manages.

At some point during the meeting, it became apparent Steenstra was not feeling well. At about 2 p.m., Steenstra took a nitroglycerin tablet. Ten minutes later, he took another.